Senator Stevens is now trying to sneak his ANWR drilling Christmas present to his oil corporation handlers into the Defense bill. He says if people want Katrina victims' aid approved they will have to roll over for this. What a sick thing to say! The response to the global warming that caused this catastrophe should be to accelerate destructive climate change even more?

Well, Maria Cantwell is not rolling over. She has sworn she will lead a FILIBUSTER to have this out of place language removed. We're not rolling over either. We will fight this last minute stunt until Santa Claus fires up his sleigh. Please call your senators at once at 888-355-3588 or 888-818-6641 and submit the action page at

ACTION PAGE: http://www.millionphonemarch.com/anwr.htm

Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be ours, and forward this message to everyone else you know.

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CounterPunch
by Mike Marqusee

12/19/05

Two pieces of legislation currently wending their way through Britain's Parliament illustrate how the war on terror is being used to dismantle the very freedoms it's supposed to secure. Both criminalise the expression of ideas and neither is likely to deal effectively with the problem it purports to address. They are opportunistic gambits, characteristic of a government whose moralistic bombast is in inverse proportion to the morality of its behaviour...

http://www.counterpunch.org/marqusee12192005.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Common Dreams
by Bob Burnett

12/19/05

For five years citizens have suffered 'a long train of abuses and usurpations' by George W. Bush. This week brought the announcement that he authorized domestic spying on civilians without bothering to obtain court warrants. Bush admitted this, calling the eavesdropping 'crucial to our national security.' He didn't explain why he deemed it unnecessary to first get a warrant. These revelations were the latest in a series of outrages. ... President Bush's assertion of expanded Presidential authority is wrong legally and morally. There is no justification for torture of prisoners or spying on private citizens. Two hundred thirty years ago the Founders rejected similar activity, by another George. It was despotism then, it is despotism now. The conduct of the Bush Administration cannot be tolerated...

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1219-30.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Scripps Howard News Service
by Dale McFeatters

12/19/05

The eavesdropping by the NSA, where targets are chosen by shift supervisors, is overseen by no judge, court or senior Justice Department official. It may be a valuable tool in the war on terrorism; it might also be illegal and unconstitutional. It is Congress' responsibility to say yea or nay and, if yea, to lay down the specific ground rules, oversight and checks and balances to protect Americans' privacy and civil liberties. Give the government a power, and it will use it and likely eventually misuse it...

http://tinyurl.com/bojmh


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CounterPunch
by John Blair

12/19/05

Civil disobedience is truly the most effective means of protest but it needs to be used in creative ways following the three following rules from my perspective: 1. It must always be NONVIOLENT. No one should ever be physically harmed in any way; 2. It is best when it is ACTIVE versus passive. Stealing shovels was likely more effective in making my point than it would have been if I had simply trespassed and sat down, waiting to be carried off by some cop who is paid to uphold the laws of the corporations. Action was what captivated the TV cameras and made the act a success. 3. It must be SYMBOLIC and easily understood, both in the reasons why it is being done and what larger goal is being pursued by the action...

http://www.counterpunch.org/blair12192005.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Christian Science Monitor
by Suzanne Mettler

12/19/05

Our political leaders may aim to spread democracy abroad, but the lessening role of government in the lives of Americans -- as manifested by recent cuts to the federal budget -- does little to nurture the democratic process here at home. Although less severe than the earlier House version, the budget emerging from Congress reduces spending on social and educational programs while extending tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans. These budget cuts continue a quarter century of governance guided largely by the idea that, in Ronald Reagan's words, 'Government is not the solution ... government is the problem.' But an assessment of these decades reveals that as government's role in citizens' lives diminishes, so, too, does active civic engagement. In the 1950s through the early 1970s, when government played a visible and positive role in the lives of Americans, large majorities -- according to the National Election Studies -- believed that it was something to trust, and was 'run for the good of all.' By contrast, only 30 to 40 percent of citizens today have the same trust...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1220/p09s02-coop.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Human Events
by Bruce Bartlett

12/20/05

Last week, two new federal reports were published showing once again that the nation's fiscal position is dangerously out of whack. And by every measure, the situation has gotten substantially worse as a result of George W. Bush's policies. The first report is known as the 'Financial Report of the United States Government.' The latest is for fiscal year 2005, which ended on Sept. 30, and was published by the Treasury Department and the Government Accountability Office on Dec. 15. The summary shows a gross federal debt of $9.9 trillion, offset by assets of $1.5 trillion, for a net debt of $8.5 trillion. At the end of fiscal year 2001, the comparable numbers were $7.4 trillion for the gross debt, $926 billion for assets and a net debt of $6.5 trillion. Thus we see that the national debt has increased by $2 trillion on Bush's watch. However, because of accounting conventions, these figures greatly understate the rise of national indebtedness...

http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=11005


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Salon
by Bruce Schneier

12/20/05

When President Bush directed the National Security Agency to secretly eavesdrop on American citizens, he transferred an authority previously under the purview of the Justice Department to the Defense Department and bypassed the very laws put in place to protect Americans against widespread government eavesdropping. The reason may have been to tap the NSA's capability for data-mining and widespread surveillance. Illegal wiretapping of Americans is nothing new. In the 1950s and '60s, the NSA intercepted every single telegram coming in or going out of the United States. It conducted eavesdropping without a warrant on behalf of the CIA and other agencies. Much of this became public during the 1975 Church Committee hearings and resulted in the now famous Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978... [subscription or ad view required]

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2005/12/20/surveillance/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.fmnn.com/Analysis/47/3222/2005-12-19.asp?nid=3222&wid=47


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AntiWar.Com
by US Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX)

12/20/05

If we hope to pursue a more sensible foreign policy, it is imperative that Congress face up to its explicit constitutional responsibility to declare war. It's easy to condemn the management of a war one endorsed, while deferring the final decision about whether to deploy troops to the president. When Congress accepts and assumes its awesome responsibility to declare war, as directed by the Constitution, fewer wars will be fought. Sadly, the acrimonious blame game is motivated by the leadership of both parties for the purpose of gaining, or retaining, political power. It doesn't approach a true debate over the wisdom, or lack thereof, of foreign military interventionism and preemptive war...

http://www.antiwar.com/paul/?articleid=8277


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp